Indian shares eased a touch on Thursday after two days of gains, pulled down by consumer goods firm Hindustan Lever Ltd ahead of its results. The 30-share Mumbai Stock Exchange index closed 0.24 percent lower at 6,577.83 points, giving up some of its 0.75 percent gain in the previous session. India's main share index is up 7.7 percent in less than three weeks, boosted by foreign funds buying nearly $1.2 billion of stocks since January 27 on the back of strong quarterly earnings.
But the market is expected to be stuck in a groove in the weeks before the federal budget on February 28, when the government will announce new policy and tax proposals.
"There hasn't been much direction to the market in the last two days and most of the activity has been in mid-cap stocks," said Rishabh Arya, equity sales manager at Edelweiss Capital. "The market should remain range-bound, trading between 6,300 to 6,650 points."
Hindustan Lever, India's top consumer goods firm, dropped 4 percent ahead of its fourth quarter results on Friday. Analysts expect its profit to drop 19 percent, falling for a fourth successive quarter, as price cuts failed to boost sales of its soaps and detergents.
Power industry shares gained on an improving sector outlook on the back of growing expectations that the federal budget will step up spending on infrastructure, crucial to boost growth.
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